What Have You Rescued?

Living out in the country most of my life, I rescued a lot of wildlife. Gators, snakes, birds, mammals--etc. It was always something I loved doing and my family was really good about it. Until I got a rattle snake. Then Grams got a little bit mad. LOL

Since marrying and having a kid, I haven't been rescuing much. We saved a few raccoons and odds and ends. Nothing too spectacular. My most recent rescue was an Eastern towhee I saved from our yard cat. I fattened him up for a few days and was about to release him when he spazzed out and left his wing feathers in my hand. We were stuck with him until they grew back in. He was much nicer than our cockatiel, prettier too. LOL

Its really nice teaching the next generation how to care for animals, both domestic and wild. I learned from an early age to respect nature and my hands on experience has benefited my new family. I hope they carry it on long after I keel over.

Lots of animals. Dogs, cats, rats, rabbits (domestic and wild), gerbils, mice, snakes, frogs, toads, all kinds of birds (both domestic and wild), squirrels, a raccoon, opossums.... That's all I can think of for now. I have been rescuing and rehabbing since I was young, maybe ten years old. My grade school even called my home to get some wild baby bunnies they found.

Thought of more, turtles, a few fish, ferrets, moles, shrews and voles.

Rescuer of all types of dogs for over 40 years and we were a foster family for a couple actual dog rescue groups for about a dozen years . Exotic (and not so exotic) bird rescuer for heading towards 30 years. Rescuer of ANY critter in need since old enough to walk . i think it's a hereditary issue since my folks never could turn away any living thing in need either..LOL

Despite being laughed at many times, I will pull over, leap out of my car and grab a snake or turtle out of the road. End of the summer I leaped out of my car to remove a 5' bull snake sunning itself across both lanes of traffic. Of course a truck comes right as I'm picking up this huge (and rather fat) snake and he rolls down his window laughing and says "most men twice your size wouldn't do that!" I try to move them quickly before anyone sees me, but i'm not always so lucky.... I've never had a fear of animals, just cautious.

I've also rescued baby bats, raccoons, and skunks, at least long enough to get them to a rehabilitator. I don't raise wild animals on my own because I don't know enough to get them to where they need to be to survive back in the wild and I would never keep them as a pet. Except I bottle fed baby rabbits, rescued from a dog outside. 3 of our cats and all 4 of our dogs are rescues, each having a little story behind them. All of our potbelly pigs were from people who were moving away and were in a bind to find them a new home quickly. I'm sure I could go on and on, I've had sympathy for anything in a tough situation all my life and will help anything I can. That said, it's a large burden to take on that can do more harm than good, so I don't take on helping anything that doesn't need it.

Quote:God bless you! not many folks will rescue reptiles..especially snakes . Too often they AIM for the snakes deliberately...grrr

I know... makes me sad that people treat living animals with so much disrespect. I've always loved reptiles, especially lizards. Snakes do a lot of good, like eating the mice that do a lot of bad- like chew up the alternator in my car!

Quote:God bless you! not many folks will rescue reptiles..especially snakes . Too often they AIM for the snakes deliberately...grrr

I know... makes me sad that people treat living animals with so much disrespect. I've always loved reptiles, especially lizards. Snakes do a lot of good, like eating the mice that do a lot of bad- like chew up the alternator in my car!

i hear you! i used to raise Leopard geckos but their food was eating holes in our bank account and i had to part with them.
as far as i'm concerned,God created ALL creatures and He commanded us to be good stewards to them ....Hey ,who's to argue with God ? LOL